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Scots: mating based on BMI

An Aberdeen study has found that people with similar body shapes and fat levels tend to be more attracted to each other - and this is a new behavior, just rising in the past 50 or so years. This concerns them, as they fear it could be contributing to the global "obesity epidemic"*.

(I also like Men's Health's supposition, that maybe the good looking (i.e. thin) people all just pair up first and leave the fatties with no choice but to bump uglies - I guess literally in this case - with other fatties. Very nice.

* - I don't like calling it an obesity epidemic, because that implies that obesity is a disease. Obesity can be a symptom or result of a disease, definitely. It can also be the result of being plain old fat and lazy and eating too much. The fact that so many people are fat and lazy and eat too much is not an epidemic, unless you're referring to their laziness and carelessness, and I suspect that humanity has been plagued by a constant epidemic of stupidity since the dawn of time.

There are a lot of people with genuine problems that lead to their obesity, but I still think they're in the vast minority. The fact that places where people drive more than walk, for instance, and places with higher disposable incomes, for another instance, both tend to have higher rates of obesity? Not a coincidence. The fact that I'm heavier than I want to be? Plain and simple: because I eat too much and exercise too little.

I think the real problem is how many people lean on the "I can't help but be fat" excuse and don't actually push themselves to improve their eating or exercising habits. They like the luxury of being fat. That's ok, I guess, since I enjoy the luxury of being able to eat what I want when I want, and I enjoy lazing around on the couch and watching tv or whatever, too. But the whole concept that the vast majority of people say they can't help themselves disturbs me. They can, they just don't - and then they teach their kids to follow the same bad habits. Anyways... rant over. (No, I don't know where that came from, I had planned on just posting about the article itself, but then...)